Problems with resolution on a laptop and a TV

Hello, i recently tried to reuse my old laptop as a sort of a media center for my living room. The problem is, that the TV is full HD (1920x1080) while the laptop is less than that, around 1600x1200 or something. The laptop is currently connected to the TV via a VGA cable. When i tried to disable the laptops screen to run only the TV at a Full HD resolution, the TV just stays black until it reverses back into the old resolution. The wierd thing is that with my other monitor, witch is also Full HD, it works just fine. I even used the same VGA cable. Can anyone help me find out why this is?